Joanna Coast (Health Economics Facility, Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK) Terry N. Flynn (Medical Research Council Health Services Research Collaboration, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK) Chris Salisbury (Department of Community Based Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK) Jordan Louviere (University of Technology, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) Tim J. Peters (Department of Community Based Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK)
Abstract
Objective: To identify any differences in response and completion rates across two versions of a questionnaire, in order to determine the trade-off between a potentially higher response rate (from a short questionnaire) and a greater level of information from each respondent (from a long questionnaire). Methods: This was a randomised trial to determine whether response rates and/or results differ between questionnaires containing different numbers of choices: a short version capable of estimating main effects only and a longer version capable of estimating two-way interactions, provided certain assumptions hold. Best-worst scaling was the form of discrete choice experimentation used. Data were collected by post and analysed in terms of response rates, completion rates and differences in mean utilities. Results: Fifty-three percent of individuals approached agreed to take part. From these, the response to the long questionnaire was 83.2% and the short questionnaire was 85.1% (difference 1.9%, 95% CI -7.3, 11.2; p = 0.68). The two versions of the questionnaire provided similar inferences. Discussion/conclusion: This trial indicates that, in a healthcare setting, for this complexity of questionnaire (i.e. four attributes and the best-worst scaling design), the use of 16 scenarios obtained very similar response rates to those obtained using half this number.
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